Sheer violence: a young man walks through an underground tunnel and is randomly attacked by a drunk. He punches and kicks the man until "Der Held von Stuttgart", as the SOKO episode is also titled, steps in and rescues Chris Gebert in the role of Paul Benesch.
Before this scene was in the can, however, Chris Gebert threw himself to the ground and rolled away what felt like 80 times, as he recounts. A whole day was spent rehearsing and refining the fight grips until they were safely in place and could be shot with pace and force.
"For the first time in my acting life, I shot a violent action scene like this. They did offer to let me put on extra padding, but I didn't want to, because now that I had the chance to shoot something like this, and with two acting colleagues who genuinely practise martial arts, I didn't want to look as if I were afraid of pain. So I deliberately rolled across the floor another three times."
Everything went well during the shoot, too — not a single punch or kick missed. The next day, however, the actor discovered that he was black and blue all over. "But that's exactly why it was like Hollywood — when else do you get the chance," Chris Gebert laughs.
Here is the SOKO Stuttgart clip on Facebook.
In the episode he plays the professional archer Paul, who, after the attack, spends weeks in hospital and must fear for his career. Chris Gebert therefore did not have to practise archery, but before the shoot he had the arm brace fitted once so he could feel what it is like to move with such a handicap. "After all, it has to look organic in the film, because Paul is in hospital for several weeks."
Besides the action scene, Chris Gebert was also drawn to the two sides of Paul's character. At first he seems like the nice guy next door who tragically becomes a victim. Over the course of the episode, however, he turns out to be a rather nasty type, far less innocent than he appears.
You can watch the episode tonight from 18:00 on ZDF!